The benefits of buying local produce are numerous.  The most important – helping to support local farms and bring fresh, in season produce to your table.  Nothing beats being able to speak to the folks that actually grow your food.  Not only can you ask about their growing methods but [...]]]>

Farmer's Market, Union Square in NYC

The benefits of buying local produce are numerous.  The most important – helping to support local farms and bring fresh, in season produce to your table.  Nothing beats being able to speak to the folks that actually grow your food.  Not only can you ask about their growing methods but also get the low-down on how crops are growing during the current season  and a heads up for produce in the coming weeks.  Your local farmer may even have a suggestion you try something new.  I’ve even had the pleasure of starting up conversations with other shoppers on the various produce currently available and sharing how I used it in a recipe.  At the market, everyone’s a chef.

Growing up in Southern California, we had one orange tree and enough room in the back yard to grow a small garden.  We grew monster zucchini and tomatoes.  The neighbors that lived behind us had an apricot tree with branches that draped over the back wall… I remember keeping an eye on the fruit, just waiting for it to drop into our yard.  Much of my summer time was spent at my cousins house where they happen to have avocado, peach, nectarine, apricot and plum trees and a large garden every year.

As a child, I didn’t appreciate being able to grow your own food, tending a garden and bringing it right to your table… and now many years later,  living as an adult in NYC in a small apartment with no direct sunlight, I long to have enough space to grow even a container garden on a window sill.

At least I have the next best thing – access to one of the best Farmer’s Market in the country!

To find out more about NYC’s local greenmarkets:

CENYC.org

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